Composting is being used with increased frequency to convert tons of waste of all types, include solid waste, into valuable soil conditioners. Equipment is commercially available for treating the wastes and then windrowing the waste material. The rows of composted material then utilize the naturally occurring bacterial action of biologically digesting the organic materials. Since this natural process is aerobic, the composted material must be regularly mixed and aerated in order to avoid anaerobic cores that would otherwise form in the composted rows of material. If the composted materials are properly and periodically mixed and aerated, the waste materials will break down naturally and be converted into a finished material that is stable and relatively odorless and which can be used as soil conditioners.
There are available commercially a variety of machines for aerating and mixing compost piles stored in windrows. Many of these machines use a rotating drum with flails that will turn, mix and aerate the compost. In my co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 265,879 filed Nov. 1, 1988, now U.S. Pat. No. 4,932,196, for a "Compost Windrow Turner", there is disclosed a multiple elevator machine for thoroughly mixing and inverting composted material. There is also known to me a machine that has a single elevating conveyor and which utilizes a double auger that feeds the material onto an elevating conveyor which then elevates all of the material and redeposits it. These machines are generally self-propelled, and are therefore relatively expensive, especially for the smaller operation. Usually, operators have available and use in the compost operation a tractor having a front mounted loader bucket. Obviously, it would be an advantage if this tractor could be utilized to move the compost windrow machine along the compost pile so as to aerate, mix and blend the composted material. The prior art does not disclose any machine which has the capability of being moved along the side of a compost pile by a separable prime mover which can be quickly and easily attached to the windrow machine. Particularly for the small operator, considerable savings can be achieved by utilizing the readily available tractor with its loader bucket to move and drive the compost windrow machine.
It is therefore an object of the invention to provide a compost windrow machine that can quickly and easily be attached to a prime mover, such as a tractor and controlled from the tractor to shred, aerate, mix and blend the composted material by moving the machine through the composted rows of the material.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a compost windrow machine that is low in cost and easy to maintain without sacrificing the effectiveness of the machine to properly mix, aerate and blend the composted material.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a machine which can handle the increasingly troublesome problem of leaves, grass and other wastes which are bagged in plastic bags by providing a simple and effective mechanism for cutting the bags open and separating them from their contents.